Can I learn English by watching TV?

In my experience as a second language teacher, I can’t tell you how many times I have come across people who tell me “I learnt Spanish with Pedro Almodovar movies”, or “I learnt English watching Friends“. Some people have this uncanny superpower of learning a complex interactive communication system such as language, by passively observing people on screen speaking what I can only imagine is gibberish (at first).

Bastarda!

I have personally tried this approach with Italian. I was told to put the subtitles to the spoken language, no translations as a crutch. I was told to start with small repetitive words and observe the body language. After a while, I was supposed to notice repetitive expressions and word chunks (in the second language vernacular). But, and I think you can see where I’m going with this, I got frustrated after the first hour. Clearly, this was not a good approach for me. But as the Whole Language Approach would advocate, you have to dive in and use authenticity as a motivational leverage. Right?

I must admit I was indeed motivated to resemble the main character’s searing ability to placate her cheating lover in Italian (adultery being a common theme in Italian movies), but aside from cursing “bastarda” I couldn’t string together a convincing burn in Italian from watching movies. So how as adult learners, can we re-acquaint ourselves acquiring language in this immersive almost invasive method? The short answer is we can’t (except for the admirable outliers), but the mid answer is ‘scaffolding’.

Scaffolding is Key

In education, scaffolding is known as the support we put in place to make a difficult task manageable. In other words, you don’t modify the task per se, but you modify the introduction to the task, how to interact with the task and what you want to get out of the task. For example, with my Italian movie, I could view a list of key vocabulary beforehand and see that vocabulary in context. While watching the movie, I could ask simple comprehension questions that also leverage body language, and after the task, I could review the questions and vocabulary and set up simple conversation tasks that put that vocabulary into action.

Mauril: an application that has it all

Too much work you say. I hear you. So the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) has done it for you in its Mauril application. This amazing application (and website) uses original clips from TV programs, news broadcasts, and series and adds the scaffolds. You can search your material by vocabulary point, or functional use (e.g. introductions, job interviews, etc.). Each lesson comes with a vocabulary list, clip, and comprehension questions. Or you can simply suggest it to your students as a self-directed learning tool. It is truly the whole package. FYI it is also available in French.

What was your best/worst first date?

Get your students to tell you about some of the best and worst first dates.

  • Level A1, A2, B1
  • Exercise: video with questions and discussion
  • Language focus: past tense verbs, embarrassing situations
  • Media: video

Awkward!

It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a first date. And frankly, I don’t miss them. There are so many ‘what if’s’. What if we have nothing to talk about? What if I’m boring? What if I don’t like him? What if he is the one? What if he is a sloppy eater? What if he is a lousy tipper? I remember my mind ping-ponging with random thoughts and situations that would probably never actually happen. It’s a mix of nerves and excitement, but it mostly it puts us in a rather vulnerable state where we are exposed and not fully in control.

Awkward silences, clumsy interactions, you just hope you can reach that moment where you can find something to connect over. Nonetheless, First dates can also produce some funny stories worth sharing.

Don’t mess it up

Splattered spaghetti on your white shirt? Spit out nonsense words instead of an actual sentence? Or perhaps you decided to break into a brand new pair of shoes that left you hobbling by the end of the night? Or worst of all, you meet an ex while on your date. I’m sure if you think about it, you can find all kinds of little horror stories that make for good memories.

Exercise

Work through the statements on this sheet and then take a look at the video to gather some of the key vocabulary.

The Video: “First Date” by First Date Team

Your turn

Check out this list of first-date mishaps and have your students draw inspiration or choose scenarios that may have happened to them. The first link features actual Tweets from real people. Some are hilarious.

Ask your students to prepare a little anecdote with some detail.

  • What were you wearing? What was the other person wearing?
  • Where did you go?
  • What did you eat?
  • What was your first impression?
  • What did you talk about?
  • What happened that was funny or embarrassing?
  • How did you both respond? (laugh, get embarrassed, ignore the situation, etc.)

Grammar in a spoonful of sugar anyone?

3 tips to nail your grammar lessons

When you say the word grammar, does your class suddenly give you the blank stare of death? Or perhaps you have a more mature class and they become overly focused on rules and lose sight of the communication goal of language. Whatever the reaction it causes, I find grammar lessons challenging.

It’s not that I am not good at grammar, I quite like it actually. But I’ve lived through many not-so-great grammar lessons (#introspectiveteacher).

1. Research how to explain it

It’s one thing to understand grammar it’s another thing to explain it. For this, YouTube is my best friend. Watch at least a couple of videos to see how others do it and either use the video in class or use the best of. One thing I told myself after some confusing and a little humiliating attempts and improvising… Never…ever improvise. At least I won’t.

2. Keep drills short

I had a teacher in university who used to say, “use a guerilla attack approach to grammar.” I think what she meant was, to keep it short, explain, practice, correct and move to the next thing.

3. Follow it up with a communication activity

Ideally, your next activity is a more communication-based activity that can provoke the context to use that grammar item. For that, I have made many suggestions in other blog posts (the list is at the end of this post).

Grammar challenges us (teachers and students) in different ways. It can be complex, dry and full of exceptions. Being overly focused on grammar comes at the cost of losing authentic dialogue. However, being underly focused can compromise accuracy. It’s a bit like poaching an egg, it’s not enough to know what an egg is, or how to boil water, it’s the subtle interaction of both that makes the dish. By the way, I also have a lesson on how to poach eggs. 😜

Here are some of Whole Language lessons I have that focus on grammar:

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